Poppy Day is soon approaching

May 13, 2012

It's almost Memorial Day. It's time for people to decorate their loved ones graves. The cemeteries will be filled with beautiful flowers from gardens and sprays from stores and that is good. In this way we keep our loved ones in our hearts because they have helped to make us who we are today. They sacrificed for us, protected us and kept us from harm, sometimes at their own peril.

It is also a time to remember those we may have never met, soldiers. Some were young, eager boys and also men with families left behind. There are doctors and nurses who willingly left behind successful practices to tend to these boys and men, in fields and villages, in foreign places whose names many couldn't pronounce. Some soldiers came back disabled, or sick and some never came back at all. But they have all helped to make America what it is today, by the sacrifice of putting themselves in peril to protect us and keep us from harm.

On Friday, May 18th you will have an opportunity to honor these men and women, and help those veterans who live at the home in Marshalltown, by accepting a paper poppy, and making a donation to the American Legion Auxiliary members in Reinbeck. The poppies are handmade by hospitalized Marshalltown veterans for a very small wage, but it gives them a sense of self-sufficiency and supplements their income. For some, it is their only income. Your generosity will help support veterans and their families in the area by providing medical and therapeutic assistance that many could not otherwise afford.

So when you see an American Legion Auxiliary member on Friday the 18th, please take and wear a poppy.